Request for Proposal Specifications

1. Purpose and Scope

This Request for Proposal (RFP) seeks responses from vendor(s) / manufacturer(s) / reseller(s) and /or financial / lending institutions to provide high quality color and black and white printing devices. Such devices need to be capable of producing in excess of 110 pages per minute based on a size of 8.5”x11” sheet. Bidders must explicitly commit in their proposal to meet the Requirements for High Speed Color and Black and White output as outlined, herein. Current equipment leases expire September 30, 2017. Current equipment setup consists of (1) Xerox iGen 3 with Freeflow/DocuSp file processing capabilities, and (1) Xerox iGen 4 also with Freeflow/DocuSp file processing capabilities. APH’s average production is 8-9 million pages per year with peak months reaching as high as 700K pages and low months as low as 350K pages combined (black and white and color.)

2. Submission Guidelines

Bidders must submit their responses no later than 1 July 2017. Regular mail as well electronic submissions are accepted. Send your responses to the attention of:

3. Evaluation Factors

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following factors. All of the evaluation factors, except price, are equal in importance. The lowest price will have the most weight for the evaluation factor for price.

3.1 Business experience

Evidence that the contractor has provided similar services in the past.

Evidence of adequate financial resources to perform the contract, or the ability to obtain such resources.

3.2 Production Capabilities

Demonstration of experience producing products of similar complexity at a similar rate.

Ability to comply with required or proposed delivery or performance schedule, taking into consideration all existing commercial and governmental commitments. Necessary organization, experience, accounting and operational controls, and technical skills, or the ability to obtain them.

Be otherwise qualified and eligible to receive an award under applicable laws and regulations (refer to FAR 9.104-1 (g)).

Completed Statement of Production Capacity FY 2017

3.3 Quality Controls

Demonstration of quality control procedures.

Ability to comply with all quality specifications, including the submission of samples as necessary.

3.4 Evaluation Criteria

An award will be made to the offeror whose proposal is the best value to the American Printing House for the Blind. All evaluation factors other than cost or price when combined are less important than cost or price. Award will be made on the basis of the lowest evaluated price of proposals meeting or exceeding the acceptability standards for non-cost factors. The American Printing House for the Blind intends to evaluate offers and award a contract without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror’s initial offer should contain the offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the American Printing House for the Blind reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary. The American Printing House for the Blind may reject any or all offers if such an action is in the interest of the American Printing House for the Blind; and waives informalities and minor irregularities in offers received.

The American Printing House for the Blind reserves the right to make an award on any item for a quantity less than the quantity offered, at the unit cost or prices offered, unless the offeror specifies otherwise in the proposal. The American Printing House for the Blind reserves the right to make multiple awards if, after considering the additional administrative costs, it is in the American Printing House for the Blind’s best interest to do so.

The American Printing House for the Blind reserves the right to award all, none, or some of this solicitation as may be in its best interest. The American Printing House for the Blind reserves the right to give preference to nonprofit institutions or agencies whose activities are primarily concerned with the blind and with other physically handicapped persons, in all cases where the prices or proposals submitted by such institutions or agencies are under all circumstances and needs involved determined to be fair and reasonable (for these purposes fair and reasonable means no greater than 10 percent higher than prices quoted by commercial sources), and if such organizations meet the requirements or the policy set forth in section C.1.3 in the preface to this solicitation.

3.5 Evaluation of Options

The American Printing House for the Blind will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. Evaluation of options will not obligate the American Printing House for the Blind to exercise the option(s). Higher considerations will be given to equipment duty cycle, average up time per 8-hour shift per day per month, response time to a stress call and average time to bring up a downed piece of equipment.

4. Terms and Conditions of Award

4.1. The Offeror certifies, to the best of its knowledge and belief, that-

(i) The Offeror and/or any of its Principals-

(A) Are ( ) are not ( ) presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, or declared ineligible for the award of contracts by any Federal agency;

(B) Have ( ) have not ( ), within a three-year period preceding this offer, been convicted of or had a civil judgment rendered against them for: Commission of fraud or a criminal offense in connection with obtaining, attempting to obtain, or performing a public (Federal, state, or local) contract or subcontract; violation of Federal or state antitrust statutes relating to the submission of offers; or commission of embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false statements, tax evasion, or receiving stolen property; and

(C) Are ( ) are not ( ) presently indicted for, or otherwise criminally or civilly charged by a governmental entity with, commission of any of the offenses enumerated in paragraph (4.1)(i)(B) of this provision.

(ii) The Offeror has ( ) has not ( ), within a three-year period preceding this offer, had one or more contracts terminated for default by any Federal agency.

4.2. "Principals," for the purposes of this certification, means officers; directors; owners; partners; and, persons having primary management or supervisory responsibilities within a business entity (e.g., general manager; plant manager; head of a subsidiary, division, or business segment, and similar positions).

(a) This Certification Concerns a Matter Within the Jurisdiction of an Agency of the United States and the Making of a False, Fictitious, or Fraudulent Certification May Render the Maker Subject to Prosecution Under Section 1001, Title 18, United States Code.

(b) The Offeror shall provide immediate written notice to the Contracting Officer if, at any time prior to contract award, the Offeror learns that its certification was erroneous when submitted or has become erroneous by reason of changed circumstances.

(c) A certification that any of the items in paragraph (a) of this provision exists will not necessarily result in withholding of an award under this solicitation. However, the certification will be considered in connection with a determination of the Offeror’s responsibility. Failure of the Offeror to furnish a certification or provide such additional information as requested by the Contracting Officer may render the Offeror nonresponsible.

(d) Nothing contained in the foregoing shall be construed to require establishment of a system of records in order to render, in good faith, the certification required by paragraph (a) of this provision. The knowledge and information of an Offeror is not required to exceed that which is normally possessed by a prudent person in the ordinary course of business dealings.

(e) The certification in paragraph (a) of this provision is a material representation of fact upon which reliance was placed when making award. If it is later determined that the Offeror knowingly rendered an erroneous certification, in addition to other remedies available to the Government, the Contracting Officer may terminate the contract resulting from this solicitation for default.

5. High Speed Color Printer

5.1 Equipment requirements

5.1.1. Equipment must be capable of producing color quality of current equipment of 600 dpi or better.

5.1.2. Must be able to print on multiple stocks within one file from 89gsm to 260gsm without a noticeable reduction in output speed or print quality.

5.1.3. Must be able to sustain an output of 750K pages per month consistently.

5.1.4. Adaptability of GBC Fusion Punch supplied by APH to be considered but not required.

5.1.5. Must be able to attach to a SAN device.

5.1.6. RIP speed of existing files to be no greater than 1.5 minutes (average file size is 450mb.

5.1.7. Must be able to enlarge the file at the RIP by 200% without exceeding the RIP timeline.

5.1.8. Must meet industry standard reliability.

6. High Speed Black and White Printer

6.1 Equipment Requirements

6.1.1. Equipment must be capable of producing black and white quality of current equipment of 600 dpi or better

6.1.2. Must be able to print on multiple stocks within one file from 89gsm to 260gsm without a noticeable reduction in output speed or print quality.

6.1.3. Must be able to sustain an output of 215,000 pages per month consistently

6.1.4. Must be able to attach to a SAN device

6.1.5. RIP speed of existing files to be no greater than 1.5 minutes (average file size is 450mb.

6.1.6. Must be able to enlarge the file at the RIP by 200% without exceeding the RIP timeline.

6.2 Initial Configuration and Expansion

6.2.1. Paper Handling

Initial configuration must have at least four feeder trays to handle a minimum of 2500 sheets.

Initial configuration must have two stacker units

Adaptability of GBC Fusion Punch supplied by APH.

Must be able to expand capabilities for growth.

6.3 Warranty and Support

6.3.1. Manufacturer must provide no less than a 3-year warranty for hardware.

6.3.2. Manufacturer support and maintenance must include 2-hour on-site response.

6.4 Financing

6.4.1. American Printing House for the Blind requires a flexible lease program providing competitive rates, ability to upgrade color, and black and white equipment with no penalties and flexible end of lease options.

7. Proposed Configuration

Detailed information on color and black and white print requirements are listed above to help participants offer the most suitable solution. Black and white print equipment may be waived if the proposal allows for a reasonable color equipment configuration which permits the production of black and white print seamlessly and economically. Redundancy may be built in the solution without inflating the overall cost of the proposal.

Bidders must submit a system diagram and include all of the components in the Proposed Pricing section.

Optional Equipment:

Optional Punching Equipment:

3-hole punch

2 dies that will be specified later for other punching patterns

Optional Fold and Stitch Equipment:

Fold and stitch module capable of folding up to 25 sheets of 80lb text.

Corner staple capabilities.

Face-Trimming capabilities.

All optional equipment quoted will be considered separately.

8. Proposed Pricing

In this section, provide pricing details for the proposed configurations as expressed in section 7. APH is interested in a 42-month lease of the proposed equipment with options of upgrading or replacing any portion of the configuration without impact on terms, if APH deems necessary.

A template for pricing will be made available upon receiving your intention to participate in this bid process.